A spokeswoman for the BfV intelligence agency declined to comment on the unsourced report published Wednesday.
If confirmed, this would be a setback for the party before an election in September in which polls forecast a loss in support over its opposition to lockdown measures during the coronavirus pandemic.
A decision by the intelligence agency to monitor the party nationally would entail the surveillance of all its leaders and lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house.
“We have not been informed of any decision to increase surveillance activities against us,” AfD lawmaker Stefan Keuter said. “But should this be the case, we will fight it in the courts.”
France has shut down Generation Identity (GI) some eight years after the far-right, anti-migrant group rose to prominence in the country by occupying a mosque in Poitiers – the first of many stunts.
In a tweet on Wednesday containing images of the government decree, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the group has incited “discrimination, hatred and violence”.
The push to close the group followed an undercover operation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit in 2018, which exposed the group’s racism, violence, and connections with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party.
Génération Identitaire, the French name of the group which had his headquarters in Lyon, advocated for “defending the identity and culture of white Europeans” and decries what it calls the “great replacement” by immigration and “Islamisation”.
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday accused supporters of former President Donald Trump who carried out a deadly January 6 attack on the United States Capitol of “domestic terrorism” and promised to hold them accountable as calls grow for increased measures to combat far-right violence.
“I was appalled that you, our country’s elected leaders, were victimised right here in these very halls,” Wray testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“That siege was criminal behaviour, pure and simple. It’s behaviour that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism.”
It was Wray’s first testimony in Congress since the attack – a failed bid to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s November election victory – was carried out by supporters of then-President Trump who, in a speech near the White House, exhorted them to march to the Capitol in protest.
Former US House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving denied on Tuesday authorities had rejected having the National Guard deployed at the US Capitol on January 6 because it might look bad, saying the intelligence did not warrant the troops’ presence.
Irving made his comments in testimony prepared for two Senate committees investigating the security preparations and response to the attack on the Capitol by a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump, who had for months touted unfounded claims he lost the November elections due to voter fraud.
Trump was impeached and acquitted for his role in “inciting” the riot.